Contents

Introduction

For your first time learning, please read through the entire page. For a quick refresh, read only the bold text.

Doc Generation is a power resource designed to save you time used to prepare important documents, forms, and letters. It requires adding a doc gen button, providing a coded template, and then generating the document in a case. When the document is generated, information that is specific to the case will be pulled directly into the document. This will save you time from having to type in the recipient's mailing address, the time, the date of accident, the client's birth date and social security, etc. each time you need to generate this form. Follow this step by step guide to utilize this powerful resource for your firm.

Step 1 of 3 - Add a document generation button

A) Using the advanced tool, Customs Editor(↗), choose the project type this document applies to. After which, decide which section you'd like to house this auto-generated document. A rule of thumb is to choose the section that holds the most information you're hoping to auto-populate (e.g. If it's a letter to an insurance company, you'll likely want it housed in the Insurance section). For general documents, we recommend adding this button to the Forms section.

B) Click on the name of the section you've chosen to house the document. Doing so will open the settings for that section. Scroll to the bottom of that card.

C) click on "Add field." This will open the settings for a new field.

D) In the Field Prompt, enter the name of the document.

E) In the Field Selector, assign a code for this field, which we generally recommend to be the same as the Field Prompt but without any spaces or special characters.

F) in the Field Type, choose "Doc Generation Button." If you want, you can decide which row this button will appear on and what conditions the button will show or hide for. Please note that an error will occur if the doc gen button you're attempting to add is on a row didn't start with a doc gen button.

G) Finally, click "Create."

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Step 2 of 3 - Prepare and upload a template

For step two, we'll be working in two places at once: Filevine and Microsoft Word.

A) Navigate to the advanced tool, Doc Generation Setup(↗), and choose the appropriate project type. If returning to edit an existing template, click on the down arrow next to the document you're editing and download the template.

B) Click on the "Field List" button next to the name of the section you're housing the generated document in. This will show you the list of all {{codes}} that Filevine will recognize in order to pull the correct information into the generated document.

C) Using Microsoft Word, open the letter or form you wish to have act as template. Make all changes to the layout and wording as needed.

D) Find the correct {{code}} from the fieldlist that represents each portion of text that you wish to be auto-generated. For example, in a letter to the client, this is what the "Addressed to:" portion of the letter would look like in code and in generated form.

A rule of thumb to keep in mind is that whatever formatting (underlined, bold, italics, size, highlighting, font size) the code is in, it will show up the same way in the generated form. The exception for this is for text to appear in ALL CAPS. For ALL CAPS, please use this special code: {{ fieldname | capitalize }}, e.g. {{ fullname | capitalize }}. For dates to appear with the month written out, use this special code: {{ fieldTitle | longdate }}, e.g. {{ incidentDate | longdate }}.

A helpful tip: For a quick way to navigate through the long list of codes, use Ctrl + F to find keywords, like "client", "incident", "provider", etc.

When all of the codes have been entered into the template, it's now ready to be uploaded.

E) Return to the Doc Generation Setup (↗), choose the project, then use the Upload button to upload your template. Filevine will attempt to upload the document. If it's successful, the gray title of the document will turn a blue link. If the upload fails, that is because Filevine has found a code that it does not recognize. The error message will tell you which codes are unrecognized. If this occurs, double check the appropriate code(s). If you continue to experience problems, reach out to support to troubleshoot.​

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Step 3 of 3 - Generate the Document

A) Open the case/project that you're wanting to generate the document for and navigate to the section that you created a doc generation button for from Step 1. The first time you generate a document, the button should say "Generate."

B) Click on the "Generate" button to generate the document with data that is specific for that case. After clicking on the button, the document will be generated and a blue link will open up a preview. You can also use the downward arrow to download, share, rename, move, and update the document.

C) Review a downloaded copy of the document to make sure all of the codes correctly pulled the information you were wanting. If it meets your expectations, it is ready to be printed or sent to the appropriate receiver. At any time, if you have made edits to the original template, you will need to repeat step 2 to update the version that Filevine is using to generate the document.

For each document, you will want to repeat Steps 1 to 3. It may take a little time to learn and to set up completely, but once you do, it'll save you a lot of time in the future.

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Troubleshooting for Step 3:

*If the wrong information was pulled, you may need to adjust some of the codes to pull from the appropriate fields. ​*If a document has blanks or empty spaces where a code is meant to be (as seen in the .gif example above for SSN and Date of Accident), that simply means the field is currently empty in Filevine.

*If a document isn't reflecting new information you've entered, simply click on "Regenerate" to get the most up-to-date version.

*For any other issues, please reach out to the support team for further troubleshooting.